


The Colour Green

by Bittersweet



Series: All The Colours of Love [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Break Up, Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, Jealousy, M/M, Reconciliation, Suspicions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-09 00:04:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bittersweet/pseuds/Bittersweet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Landeskog breaks up with Nugent-Hopkins thinking he's been cheating on him with Eberle. Nugent-Hopkins has no idea what's going on. It's kind of Skinner's fault.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Flyingintospace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flyingintospace/gifts).



Gabe liked to keep in touch with people he had known on the different teams he had played on which was why he was talking to Jeff Skinner. He wasn’t really sure how the conversation switched from their days with the Kitchener Rangers to their current relationships.

“You’re a brave man to have a boyfriend in another country,” Skinner said with a laugh. “I think I’d go crazy if Eric played in a different country.”

“What do you mean?” Gabe asked watching some pigeons on his balcony.

“Come on man, you must have noticed that long distance relationships are hard. You’re never around so it’s hard to maintain a connection. Something like ninety percent of long distance relationships end because of cheating.”

“Ryan and I connect just fine,” Gabe retorted hotly. “Just because you can’t trust your boyfriend doesn’t mean I can’t trust mine.”

“Hey man relax. I didn’t mean to imply anything.”

“Yeah,” Gabe said still frowning. “I’d better go, talk to you later Jeff.” He hung up and frowned at the pigeons. There was no way Ryan would ever cheat on him.

 

It was a few months later and Gabe was lying in bed in his Colorado apartment with Ryan curled up next to him, half asleep. Gabe had started watching every interview or television appearance that Ryan did since his conversation with Skinner, unable to put Jeff’s words out of his head; the more he watched the more he worried there might be some truth to them.

“Ryan,” Gabe said uncertainly, stroking Ryan’s hair. Ryan made a soft humming sound and Gabe lost his nerve. “Are you hungry?” he asked instead.

Ryan laughed and looked up at him. “I guess we shouldn’t have blown off our reservations,” he teased.

Gabe couldn’t help grinning back. “I guess not. I think I’ve got bread and peanut butter if you want a sandwich.”

“Nah I’m good. You go ahead though.” Ryan moved so that Gabe could get up.

Gabe got up, pulled on his boxers and wandered into the kitchen. He made himself a sandwich but didn’t eat it, instead picking at the bread until it was a mangled mess and he had to throw it out. He felt like he was going out of his mind worrying about something that would never happen. He walked back into the bedroom, determined to just talk to Ryan about it. Ryan was on the phone when Gabe walked into the bedroom.

“It’s Jordan,” Ryan said covering the base of his phone with his hand. “I’ll just be a minute.”

Gabe stared as Ryan got up and went into the washroom closing the door behind him. What would Ryan be talking about with Eberle that he didn’t want him to overhear? He glanced at the clock, just after midnight. And for that matter, why would Eberle be calling Ryan at this hour? Gabe crawled back into bed to wait for Ryan, lying on his side and staring at the bathroom door, but finally gave up and went to sleep.

 

Things got worse after that and Gabe had to struggle not to let his paranoia affect his game. He thought he was doing a good job until the coach pulled him aside to ask if there was anything wrong.

Gabe shook his head. “No. I think I’ve been fighting off a bit of a cold or something,” he added lamely.

“All right,” Roy said sceptically, letting the matter slide. “Make sure you talk to someone if it gets any worse.”

Gabe thanked him and escaped from the rink, heading back to his apartment. He flicked on the television and the first thing he saw was Ryan at some sort of Oilers charity thing and Eberle standing right next to him, his arm slung over Ryan’s shoulders. They were both laughing at something but Gabe couldn’t hear them as blood rushed to his head and he had to sit down to stop the room from spinning. He ducked his head and took several deep breaths to calm down. After he’d sat like that for half an hour and the program had switched to an interview with Gagner, he got up and called Coach Roy. They had three days off before their next game and he wanted to see if he could get out of practice. He must have been doing a worse job hiding his worries than he thought because the coach gave him the time off without question. He thanked the coach and looked up the next flight he could catch to Edmonton.

 

He didn’t call Ryan to let him know he was coming. He was knocking on Ryan’s door when he thought that this may not have been his best idea. Before he could imagine too many horrible, to him anyway, things that he could be walking in on the door opened and Ryan was standing there.

“Gabe!” Ryan said looking surprised then pleased. He stepped out of the way so Gabe could enter the apartment. “What are you doing here?” he asked as he closed the door after him. “Not that I’m complaining,” he added pulling Gabe in for a kiss.

“I’ve got three days before our next game,” Gabe explained once Ryan let him go. “I thought I’d spend them with you.”

“Cool. I don’t have practice today so what would you like to do?” Ryan’s grin suggested he had a few ideas already.

They spent the whole day in the apartment and Gabe started to feel better, thinking that he was being an idiot worrying about Ryan cheating on him. Ryan had to go to practice the next morning and he grumbled as he crawled out of bed.

Gabe laughed at him and Ryan threw a pillow at him.

“Enjoy my bed,” Ryan said trying to glare but losing to a smile.

“I will,” Gabe assured him stretching so that he took up most of the bed.

Gabe stayed there for a few minutes after Ryan left but lying in Ryan’s bed wasn’t as much fun without Ryan so he got up and took a shower then wandered into the kitchen to find breakfast. Ryan was better about shopping then he was so there was actual food to choose from in the apartment. He sliced some strawberries into a bowl of raisin bran and wandered into the living room to watch television while he ate. He was bored within the hour.

He remembered Ryan telling him about some of his favourite places to shop in Edmonton so he left the apartment and headed into the city. Happily no one recognized him so he was able to shop without anyone wondering what he was doing in Edmonton when there wasn’t a game between the two teams. He was just finishing at the till of a mall novelty store where he’d picked up a couple of souvenirs for his family when he saw Ryan pass by the window. He took his change and hurried out of the store a slow feeling of dread building up in his chest. He thought he’d lost him for a second but spotted him again heading into the food court. This time he recognized Eberle walking next to him. He reached them as they were walking towards a table with trays of Chinese food. He saw Ryan start to smile as he walked up to them but ignored him, punching Eberle in the face. Eberle stumbled back, unprepared for the attack, and fell spilling Chinese food everywhere. Gabe took a step forward but Ryan dropped his tray and got in between the two of them.

“What the hell are you doing?” Ryan demanded pushing Gabe back.

“They’ve moved practice to the mall have they?” Gabe demanded his voice rising in anger. “I’m not an idiot Ryan! If you want him fine, we’re through!” He turned and stormed away before mall security could arrive.


	2. Chapter 2

Ryan stared after Gabe in shock. He didn’t think Gabe realized he’d been shouting at him in Swedish which was almost as shocking as his sudden attack on Eberle.

“What the hell was that about?” Eberle asked as Ryan helped him up, blood running down his lips from his nose.

“I don’t know.” Ryan looked at the crowd that was gathering uneasily. He could see that some of them were taking pictures and knew that they had been recognized. “Come on, we’d better get out of here.”

Ryan grabbed some napkins for Eberle’s nose and they left the mall. Ryan drove to Eberle’s apartment and as they were pulling into the parking space Ryan’s phone started ringing.

“Can you tell me why there’s a video of Gabriel Landeskog punching Eberle in a mall on YouTube right now?” Craig MacTavish asked.

Ryan winced. That hadn’t taken long. “I don’t know sir.” He couldn’t think of any logical reason Gabe went off like that.

“Is Jordan there with you?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. I want the both of you to come down to my office as soon as possible so we can get a handle on this thing. I’ll get one of the team medics to have a look at Jordan’s nose.”

Ryan thanked him and hung up. “That was MacTavish, he wants us to go see him. Do you want to go get cleaned up first?”

Eberle groaned. “No. Let’s just get this over with.”

 

They pulled into the staff parking area and went into the building through the back entrance. They reached MacTavish’s office without incident. The door was open and MacTavish called them inside instructing them to close the door behind them.

“This is the video we’ve been seeing,” he said as one of the team’s medics took a look at Eberle’s nose. He pushed play and Ryan watched the events play over. He winced, it looked worse on television.

“I had the Swedish translated, so I need you to be completely honest with me,” MacTavish said looking grim. “Are you two romantically involved?”

Ryan could feel his face heating up and Jordan pushed the medic’s hand out of the way and stared at MacTavish like he’d sprouted an extra head. “No sir,” they both answered.

MacTavish stared at them hard then nodded. “But you were involved with Landeskog?” he asked Ryan.

“Were—” Ryan got hung up on the past tense and couldn’t think for a second. “What exactly did he say?” he asked weakly.

“He accused you of cheating on him and said that the two of you were through.”

Ryan sat back in stunned silence. Gabe had broken up with him and it was all over YouTube.

“I think we can downplay the breakup unless you want to come out,” MacTavish was saying. “Fortunately we’re in an easier position since neither of you threw any punches but we should have statements ready in case the press asks for our response to this assault by Landeskog.”

 

They left a few hours later and Ryan felt so drained he just wanted to go home and go to bed.

“Hey,” Eberle said as they got into Ryan’s car. “This isn’t ‘cause you were helping me get over my breakup with Taylor is it?” he asked looking worried.

Ryan shook his head. “I told Gabe about that months ago, he was cool about it.”

“Why would he think you were cheating on him then?”

“I lied about where I was going this morning,” Ryan admitted. That was the only thing he could think of that might have upset Gabe but he didn’t understand why he had flown off the handle about it. “I told him I had practice instead of that I was going shopping with you.”

“But that’s because you didn’t want him to know what you were buying.”

“But Gabe didn’t know that.” Ryan pulled into the parking lot of Eberle’s apartment for the third time that day. “There’s something else happening with Gabe that I’ve missed somehow.”

“I hope you figure it out,” Eberle said getting out of the car. “You and Gabe are a good fit.”

 

The apartment was empty when Ryan got home. He hadn’t expected Gabe to be there but he didn’t expect it to come as such a blow when he walked into the bedroom and saw that the carry-on that Gabe had brought was gone. He sat on the edge of the bed and tried to think of an explanation but with no luck. He pulled out his cellphone and called Gabe, mulling over what he was going to say. It was no surprise when Gabe didn’t pick up but when the call cut off without even going to voicemail Ryan stared at the phone in disbelief. Maybe it was because Gabe was already on a plane back to Colorado, Ryan tried to reassure himself. He spent the rest of the night calling every half hour with no answer.

Ryan was woken up the next morning by his phone ringing next to his head. “Gabe?” he answered without thinking.

“Sorry Ryan, it’s Jordan. Turn your T.V. on to the sports channel.”

“What’s going on?” Ryan asked as he stumbled into the living room. He found the remote lying under a cushion on the couch and pressed the power button. The television was already on the right channel and Gabe appeared on the screen, sitting behind a microphone.

Ryan sank down onto the couch, his phone still held against his ear, as Gabe apologized for the assault on Eberle. Ryan didn’t think he’d ever seen Gabe looking so subdued.

“Did you see it?” Eberle’s voice asked and Ryan remembered he was on the phone.

“Yeah,” Ryan answered still starring at the screen.

“MacTavish wants me to do a press release about whether I’m pressing charges or not. I’m not obviously, pressing charges I mean. I have to do the press release. I just wanted to give you a heads up beforehand.”  
“Thanks Jordan. I appreciate it.”

“No problem. I’d better get going.”

Ryan ended the call the found another channel playing Gabe’s apology. He noticed that nowhere in the interview did Gabe mention him, playing the whole thing off as a difference of opinion with Eberle.

 

It was a few hours later that Eberle’s press release came on, Eberle stressing the fact that it had been a misunderstanding between the two of them and that he had no intention of pressing charges. Ryan was grateful that nobody had brought up the possibility of a love triangle being the cause of the fight. Ryan had given serious thought to the idea of coming out but he wanted it to be on his terms, not because his boyfriend had decided to punch someone in a mall.

Ryan called Gabe a bunch more times with no answer and what felt like a million texts with the same result. He stubbornly continued texting and calling even a week later refusing to give up on what they had without knowing why.

They had a game against the Hurricanes a few nights later and Eberle scored them the winning goal in overtime. The locker room was loud after the game and it seemed to take forever for everyone to get changed out of their gear. Even Ryan got caught up in the excitement of the win and left the locker room with a bunch of the guys headed out to celebrate. They stopped short when Jeff Skinner stepped in front of them.

“Um hi,” Skinner said awkwardly. “Can I talk to you for a second?” he asked looking at Ryan.

Ryan nodded slowly. “I’ll catch up with you guys,” he told his teammates.

“Call if you need anything,” Eberle said before following the rest of the guys out of the arena.

“I talked to Landeskog last night,” Skinner said.

“You did? What did he say?” Ryan asked thinking it was kind of pathetic that he couldn’t hide the eagerness in his voice to hear from Gabe even in this roundabout way.

“He’s a mess. He’s been doing a good job hiding it but I could tell, he just doesn’t have his usual enthusiasm for anything.” Skinner shifted uncomfortably. “I think it might be my fault.”

“How could it be your fault?” Ryan asked confused. He knew Gabe and Skinner were friends, and that Skinner was one of the few people that had known about him and Gabe but he didn’t see the connection between their breakup and Skinner.

“We were talking last night,” Skinner repeated. “And Gabe said that I was right, that long distance relationships were nothing but trouble. It took me a while but I remember having a conversation with him probably six months ago about how hard long distance relationships were and that lots of them end because of cheating.”

Ryan stared at Skinner in disbelief. He opened his mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say and closed it again.

“I know man,” Skinner said sympathetically. “I’m so sorry I never thought he’d take what I said that seriously.”

“Thanks for telling me,” Ryan said once he’d gotten his voice back.

Skinner nodded and walked away to rejoin his teammates.

Ryan had memorized the Avalanche’s schedule, which was a level of pathetic-ness he wasn’t going to analyze, so he knew that Gabe would be at home tonight and the next day. He also had the next day off so he pulled his phone and started looking for a flight to Colorado.


	3. Chapter 3

Gabe was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, something he’d been struggling with ever since he’d gone to Edmonton and broken up with Ryan. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table. It read 3:00. He groaned and stuck his head under his pillow, then decided it was pointless to keep lying there and headed to the living room to watch T.V. He was halfway there when there was a knock on the door.

He stopped and looked over at the door. Who would be visiting him at this time of morning? His curiosity got the better of him and he wandered over to the door and looked out the peephole. His heart nearly stopped beating when he saw Ryan standing on the other side. He’d been able to ignore the calls and texts but seeing him standing in front of him was so much harder. He should just back away, pretend he wasn’t there, but he couldn’t make himself move. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

“What are you doing here Ryan?” he asked trying to sound indifferent.

Ryan brushed past him into the apartment. “We’re going to talk,” he said frowning. “And don’t tell me we have nothing to talk about,” he continued when Gabe opened his mouth. “Because that’s a lie and you know it.”

Gabe stared at him for a second then, at a loss of what else to do, closed the door and leaned against it. “Okay,” he said hesitantly.

Ryan nodded. “Good. I want to know why you broke up with me.”

Gabe felt a surge of anger. “Because you were cheating on me!” he snapped.

Ryan shook his head. “No, I wasn’t. I talked to Skinner after our game tonight, he told me he thought you’d gotten that idea after you’d talked to him six months ago. The whole flight here I’ve been trying to think what I’ve done in the last six months that could possibly make you think that and I’m drawing a blank so please spell it out for me.”

“Every time I turned around you were with Eberle. What was I supposed to think?” Gabe asked.

Ryan stared at him. “Uh first of all that he’s my friend? Of course I’m going to spend time with him. Second, you knew he was having a hard time getting over Hall and that he needed a friend to talk to.”

“He and Hall broke up?” Gabe asked feeling his anger turn to confusion.

“I told you about it when it happened,” Ryan said sounding frustrated. “Come to think of it that would also be about six months ago. Nice to see you pay more attention to Skinner than your boyfriend!”

“Oh.” Gabe said suddenly remembering the conversation. It had been just after a rough game and he’d been hurting after getting slammed into the boards too many times. “Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“So when you were in Colorado with me and you went into the washroom to talk to Eberle…”

“Yeah,” Ryan said again.

“What about when you lied to me about going to practice?” He knew Ryan had lied to him about that one.

“I admit that one.” Ryan reached into his coat pocket and pulled out what looked like a jewellery box. “I wasn’t expecting you to come into town and I’d been talking to a jeweller about a special order. I was supposed to go in that day to tell him exactly what I wanted and I wasn’t sure what else to tell you to keep you from coming and finding out.” He passed the box to Gabe. “It came in last week.”

Gabe stared at it then looked at Ryan then back at the box.

“It’s not a bomb,” Ryan said sounding amused.

Gabe tried to keep his hands from shaking as he flipped the lid up. Inside was a plain silver ring with two lines of white gold etched along the edges. He looked at Ryan in confusion.

“Will you marry me?” Ryan asked seriously.

“I—” Gabe looked at the ring then back at Ryan. “Why would you still want me?”

Ryan shrugged. “Read the inscription.”

Gabe pulled the ring out of the box and read the words that circled around the inside. “Forever yours,” he said out loud.

“No matter what happens, whether we don’t talk for months or we spend every single minute so wrapped up in one another that we don’t notice anything else, I will always be in love with you and I can only hope you feel the same way. So, will you marry me?”

“Yes.” He stepped forward and pulled Ryan close, clutching the ring in his hand.

They stood there holding one another until Ryan’s phone chimed and startled them out of it.

“I set an alarm to warn me two hours before my return flight,” Ryan explained.

“I wish you didn’t have to head back so soon,” Gabe said now that he had Ryan with him again he didn’t want to let him go.

“I wish I didn’t but I have to be but the coach will kill me if I’m not there for practice.”

“Ryan,” Gabe said as he started to move away. “I’m sorry. I should have known you’d never cheat on me.”

“Yeah but you’ve learned a valuable lesson,” Ryan managed to sound serious but was quickly overwhelmed by a grin. “Never listen to Jeff Skinner about relationship stuff.”

“I feel like I owe Eberle a more personal apology than the one the press heard,” Gabe said stopping Ryan again as he moved towards the door. “Do you think we could get him and Hall back together?”

“Maybe,” Ryan laughed and kissed him. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” he said as Gabe started kissing his neck.

“What am I doing?” Gabe asked moving to nip at his earlobe.

“You’re trying to distract me so I miss my flight and have to stay here with you.”

“Is it working?”

“Hell yes.” Ryan wrapped his arms around him and started pushing him in the direction of the bedroom.


End file.
